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Luis "Lue" Elizondo is a former U.S. Army Counterintelligence Special Agent and former employee of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence. Elizondo was a director and held "an array of leadership posts" with the now defunct Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, a program associated with the Pentagon UFO videos, which Elizondo disclosed. Elizondo has subsequently appeared in various media, including the New York Times and 60 Minutes. Later, Elizondo was the Director of Global Security and Special Programs for To the Stars, and was featured in the History Channel documentary television series Unidentified: Inside America's UFO Investigation.

Early history

Elizondo is the son of Luis Elizondo III, a Cuban exile who volunteered for Brigade 2506, a CIA-sponsored group of exiles formed in 1960 to attempt the military overthrow of the Cuban government headed by Fidel Castro, which culminated in the Bay of Pigs invasion. Elizondo was born in Miami and graduated from Riverview High School in Sarasota in 1990, where he was a member of the ROTC program.

At the University of Miami, Elizondo majored in both microbiology and immunology, with minors in chemistry and math, and trained as a scientist. He was reported to be able to qualify for Officer Candidate School, but chose instead to enroll as an enlisted non-commissioned 'grunt' in the United States Army. “My father said, in order to lead, you’ve first got to know how to follow,” Elizondo explained.

Career

United States Army

Early in his military career while ranked as a specialist, he was recruited to a "'special program' involving national intelligence," where he reported to the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and the White House. Elizondo served in the U.S. Army for 20 years, during which he ran military intelligence operations in Afghanistan, South America, and Guantanamo Bay's Camp Seven. Regarding his military career, Elizondo stated he "dealt with a lot of stuff, like coup d'états, black market terrorism, violent drug cartels, all that kind of stuff".

Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence

From 2008 until his resignation in 2017, Elizondo worked with the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence in The Pentagon. His work involved counterintelligence for advanced technologies, specifically " of advanced avionics."

Ending in 2012, he was the director of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, a special access program funded at the initiative of the then Senate majority leader, Harry Reid (D-Nevada) to investigate aerial threats including unidentified aerial phenomena. Elizondo told a reporter he thought that he might have been selected for AATIP because of his scientific background, work as a counterintelligence agent protecting American aerospace technology, and lack of interest in science fiction.

According to the Department of Defense, the AATIP program ended in 2012 after five years. Elizondo worked with officials from the U.S. Navy and the CIA out of his Pentagon office for this program until October 2017, when he resigned to protest what he characterized as "excessive secrecy and internal opposition". Elizondo asserts that "underestimating or ignoring these potential threats is not in the best interest of the Department no matter the level of political contention." The New Yorker reports that Elizondo was hired to take over the program.

New York Times Pentagon correspondent Helene Cooper interviewed Elizondo in 2017. In the "The Daily" podcast of the New York Times, Cooper characterized Elizondo as "completely credible," and that his behavior was typical of intelligence officers, who are "really spooky guys, they're very secretive, they tend to be more paranoid". According to Cooper, "There was a lot of looking over to make sure nobody was seeing us, he sat with his back to the wall. He said, because he wanted to see if anybody came in".

His position in the AATIP was questioned by The Intercept and remarked upon by Pentagon officials who confirmed he worked in the Department of Defense, with spokesperson Christopher Sherwood saying "Mr. Elizondo had no responsibilities with regard to the AATIP program while he worked in OUSDI , up until the time he resigned effective 10/4/2017." In response, Elizondo filed a complaint with the agency's inspector general claiming "a coordinated campaign to discredit him for speaking out" including "Pentagon press statements asserting he had no official role in UFO research, even after his role was officially confirmed". In the inspector general's complaint, Elizondo also stated that he was the target of "a personal vendetta from a Pentagon rival".

United States Senator Harry Reid sent a letter to NBC News stating "I can state as a matter of record Lue Elizondo's involvement and leadership role in this program".

Pentagon UFO videos disclosure and commentary

In 2017, Elizondo distributed three declassified videos to the New York Times that were made by pilots from the United States Navy aircraft carriers USS Nimitz and USS Theodore Roosevelt which became known as the Pentagon UFO videos. The release was accompanied by the first mainstream press reporting on the existence of the AATIP. In April 2019, the Navy acknowledged drafting new guidelines for pilots and other personnel to report encounters with "unidentified aircraft", and Elizondo told The Washington Post that it was "the single greatest decision the Navy has made in decades".

In 2019 Elizondo was interviewed by Tucker Carlson, and suggested that the government had fragments of a UFO, "then quickly invoked his security oath".

In April 2020, the United States Department of Defense released the videos prompting Elizondo to comment, "We are fueled by the Pentagon's significant actions and hope this encourages a new wave of credible information to come forward". According to Gideon Lewis-Kraus, Elizondo initially explained to the Pentagon in a memo that the videos would "help educate pilots and improve aviation safety", but in later interviews he stated that his goal was to shine light on the program he ran for seven-years to "collect and analyze reported UFO sightings".

In the summer of 2021 Elizondo appeared on the CBS News program 60 Minutes in a segment titled "UFOs regularly spotted in restricted U.S. airspace" in which he was interviewed by Bill Whitaker, who included interviews with Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Christopher Mellon and two U.S. Naval Avaitors.

To The Stars

After resigning from Department of Defense, Elizondo in October 2017 joined To the Stars Academy of Arts and Sciences. Elizondo announced that To The Stars was "'planning to provide never-before-released footage from real U.S. government systems—not blurry amateur photos but real data and real videos'". Elizondo asked if UAPs might be from another dimension or native to earth; if they might use hydrogen found in water to "warp space time", and if the US government may be in possession of "exotic material" associated with UAPs.

A History Channel docuseries titled Unidentified: Inside America's UFO Investigation produced by To the Stars features Elizondo and others affiliated with AATIP. Air & Space magazine wrote that the TV series "cast Elizondo as a burly, intrepid, backpack-toting crusader seeking to expose the truth in the face of a stonewalling government bureaucracy and a culture of ridicule. In doing so, the History Channel followed a long tradition within ufology of portraying the UFO investigator as a heroic figure determined to tear away the veil of secrecy surrounding extraterrestrial visitors".

Elizondo, along with Christopher Mellon and Steve Justice, left To the Stars in late 2020, saying "Tom is really focused on the entertainment side, so there's not a whole lot for Chris, Steve and I to do Our talents lie in engaging governments, Congress and international organizations, and we're ready to shift into second gear. Entertainment is one way to do it, but it's not comprehensive."

See also

• Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force

References

1. ^ Chow, Denice; Schwartz, Gadi (May 19, 2021). "UFOs are about to make their way to the U.S. Senate. Here's what to know". NBCNews.com. Retrieved May 19, 2021.
2. ^ Kloor, Keith (June 1, 2019). "The Media Loves This UFO Expert Who Says He Worked for an Obscure Pentagon Program. Did He?". The Intercept.
3. "Spaceship of Fools". Washington Spectator. July 20, 2023. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
4. Farwell, Matt (August 10, 2020). "Tom DeLonge's Warped UFO Tour". The New Republic.
5. ^ Cox, Billy (January 3, 2021). "From the shadows into the light – the man who broke the UFO embargo grew up in Sarasota". Herald-Tribune.
6. ^ Burton, Charlie (November 9, 2021). "This man ran the Pentagon's secretive UFO programme for a decade. We had some questions". GQ. Retrieved November 13, 2021.
7. Whitaker, Bill (May 16, 2021). "UFOs regularly spotted in restricted U.S. airspace, report on the phenomena due next month". CBS News.
8. ^ McMillan, Tim (January 17, 2020). "The Tale of the Tape: The Long, Bizarre Saga of the Navy's UFO Video". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
9. ^ Cooper, Helene; Blumenthal, Ralph; Kean, Leslie (December 16, 2017). "Glowing Auras and 'Black Money': The Pentagon's Mysterious U.F.O. Program". The New York Times.
10. Warrick, Joby (December 16, 2017). "Head of Pentagon's secret 'UFO' office sought to make evidence public". Washington Post.
11. ^ Blumenthal, Ralph (December 18, 2017). "On the Trail of a Secret Pentagon U.F.O. Program". The New York Times.
12. Eli Watkins and Brian Todd (December 19, 2017). "Former Pentagon UFO official: 'We may not be alone'". CNN.
13. Cillizza, Chris (April 28, 2020). "This former senator isn't surprised by the new UFO tapes". CNN.
14. ^ Lewis-Kraus, Gideon (April 30, 2021). "How the Pentagon Started Taking U.F.O.s Seriously". The New Yorker.
15. Barbaro, Michael (December 18, 2017). "Listen to 'The Daily': The Pentagon's U.F.O. Program". The New York Times. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
16. Bender, Bryan (May 21, 2021). "Ex-official who revealed UFO project accuses Pentagon of 'disinformation' campaign". Politico.
17. Villarreal, Alexandra (May 28, 2021). "Whistleblower who spoke out on UFOs claims Pentagon tried to discredit him". the Guardian.
18. Sharma, Shweta (May 27, 2021). "UFO whistleblower claims Pentagon threatened him after leaking military reports". The Independent.
19. Mellon, Christopher (March 9, 2018). "The military keeps encountering UFOs. Why doesn't the Pentagon care?". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
20. Cooper, Helene; Blumenthal, Ralph; Kean, Leslie (May 26, 2019). "'Wow, What Is That?' Navy Pilots Report Unexplained Flying Objects". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
21. Paul, Deanna (April 25, 2019). "How angry pilots got the Navy to stop dismissing UFO sightings". Washington Post.
22. Yuhas, Alan (April 28, 2020). "The Pentagon Released U.F.O. Videos. Don't Hold Your Breath for a Breakthrough". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
23. "UFOs regularly spotted in restricted U.S. airspace - 60 Minutes - CBS News". www.cbsnews.com. August 29, 2021. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
24. "UFOs are very real, 60 Minutes reports, they're still unidentified, and they aren't American". news.yahoo.com. May 17, 2021. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
25. Taylor, Derrick Bryson (September 26, 2019). "How Blink-182's Tom DeLonge Became a U.F.O. Researcher". The New York Times.
26. D'Addario, Daniel (May 31, 2019). "TV Review: History's 'Unidentified: Inside America's UFO Investigation'". Variety.
27. "Watch Preview: Unidentified: Inside America's UFO Investigation: Aware Clip - Unidentified: Inside America's UFO Investigation". HISTORY. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
28. Cooper, Helene; Blumenthal, Ralph; Kean, Leslie (May 26, 2019). "'Wow, What Is That?' Navy Pilots Report Unexplained Flying Objects". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
29. Hipes, Patrick (March 12, 2019). "History Boards Six-Part UFO Docuseries 'Unidentified' Featuring Pentagon Whistleblower". Deadline.
30. Wallis, Adam. "Tom DeLonge says he'll 'expose new evidence' about UFOs in upcoming TV series". Global News.
31. Eghigian, Greg. "The Year of UFOs". airspacemag.com. Air & Space. Archived from the original on May 26, 2021. Retrieved May 26, 2021. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; March 17, 2020 suggested (help)

External links

• Official website
• Elizondo and others featured on '60 Minutes' - May 2021

• Living people
• People of the Defense Intelligence Agency